Him

Chapter 2

No time to dillydally. No time to stop and look inside shops. No time. No time, you continue to tell yourself as you skip. Three fourty five and you're nearly home. Just a few more minutes and you're safe. Not that they'll be back. No one was there, so how can anyone be back. Then... 

 

Stomp. 

 

Stomp. 

 

Stomp. 

 

The footsteps are louder, more aggressive than yesterday. The blood coursing through your veins turns icy. You can barely move. 

 

Stomp. 

 

Stomp. 

 

Stomp. 

 

They're closer now. Closer than yesterday, when they were just a sound in the distance that scared you, that you could pretend weren't there. Terrified is your word of the day. You try to ignore the footsteps as best you can, but to no avail. They get closer and closer until you can feel the icy breath on the side of your face. Ignore it, you tell yourself half-heartedly, you're imagining things, just like yesterday. Don't you remember? You must. So ignore it! But deep in your heart you know you're not imagining things. Someone is there. You are so absorbed in thought that you don't see the gum tree. Its root stretches out onto the footpath, as if it has come to life and is trying to escape the tree. Your foot catches on it and you crash to the ground. Oh no! They'll catch you! You scramble to your feet and run. You run until you can no longer feel the breath behind you or hear the footsteps. You run and run until you get home. Feeling unsafe in the confines of your own bedroom, you seek sanctuary in Hannah's. She welcomes you warmly with open arms, pushing away a textbook full of things you'll never understand. 

"Hannah!" you cry, flinging yourself to your beautiful sister. 

"Hey, Marnie, how was school?" 

"We had to draw a picture of our dog!" 

"But we don't have a dog." 

"I know, so teacher told me to pretend I had a dog," you pout, reflecting on the memory of arguing with the teacher. 

"Can I see the picture?" Hannah asks eagerly. 

"Yes!" you drop your bag and get out the picture. It rips in half in the process. You are so disappointed. You were looking so forward to giving Hannah that picture. So what do you do? Tears well up in your green eyes and fall down your face. 

"Oh, Marnie, it's okay," Hannah wraps her arms around you. She then releases you and picks up the two halves of the seemingly ruined drawing and holds them together. 

"Oh, wow, Marnie!" she grins at you, bringing you out of your misery. "This is so pretty; what kind of dog is it?" 

"A labrador!" you tell her, suddenly over the moon with joy that Hannah, wonderful, perfect Hannah, likes your picture. 

"Well, we can fix the rip!" she finds a roll of stickytape under a mountain of worksheets and permission notes. She then proceeds to mend the drawing and stick it on her wall. She sits with you and you talk for hours. On her desk you see a test. In red is a circled "55%".

Hannah catches you looking at it, "My marks have been dropping lately. I just can't be bothered studying," she laughs, but you are worried. You've always thought she was perfect. What if she's not?

It's late when you finally venture into your room, alone. Sleep comes eventually after a haunting wake. 

 

XO 

 

Well, one week late but I don't reckon it matters cos no one has voted on it and few if any have read it. Comment and vote please cos people have only voted on 10 Things I Hate About You - Wattpad Authors. That's not a story and it's only got 4 votes! FML! But I was accepted into a Young Writers group so woohoo! XO